Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Penrice Community Council held
on Wednesday 17th November 2010

at the Oxwich Community Hall at 7.30pm


Members Present:                    Councillor G Roberts (Chair)

Councillor J Bowen
             Councillor B Richards

Councillor M Barnett

Councillor M Williams

Councillor A Glass

Councillor A Lewis

 

 

6  members of the public were also present.                                                                                                  Action

86/10                            Apologies for Absence.

 

Cllr T Methuen-Campbell had offered his apologies for absence due to being away. 

Cllr R Lewis was granted long term leave of absence from the Council due to Mayoral commitments Meeting 20th Oct 2010 minute no: 76/10 and his apologies were accepted until next May 2011.

 

87/10                            Declarations of Interest

 

Cllr M Barnett declared an interest in an item to be discussed under Planning relating to Emmanuel House due to having sent in a personal letter of objection to the application.

 

Cllr G Roberts declared an interest in an item to be discussed under Planning, which was a preliminary notification of the intention to submit a planning application by the RNLI. due to being a member of the Horton life boat crew.

 

Cllr B Richards declared an interest in an item to be discussed under Planning relating to Bank Farm due to being the owner of Bank Farm.

 

Cllr A Lewis declared an interest in an item to be discussed under Planning relating to Bank Farm due to being a close friend of the owner of Bank Farm.

 

88/10                            To confirm the minutes of the Meeting held 20th October 2010.

 

Cllr M Barnett queried 76/10 no 2 but Council resolved that the comment as minuted was said so was an accurate record of events.

 

Cllr M Williams proposed that the minutes were a true and accurate record of events, seconded  Cllr J Bowen, carried unanimously.

 

89/10                            Matters arising from the minutes.

 

Item 78/10  no 1

CCS Training on the Code of Conduct – Cllr A Glass had attended and reported according to his understanding:

 

a.                     During Planning items Cllr R Lewis does not have to withdraw from the meeting, but cannot speak or vote as

advised by the current Monitoring Officer.

b.                     As long as Councillors are clear where they stand on an issue then can decided whether the interest is

personal or prejudicial.

c.                     As a Council, we are too careful and leave when it is not necessary.

 

Council had been advised by the previous Monitoring Officer that Cllr R Lewis should withdraw from a meeting during the Planning applications as he was at that time the Chairman of the Area 2 Planning Committee, so there seemed to be a difference of advice between the two Monitoring Officers.

Council felt that due to the recent experiences with the Ombudsman, it seemed that Cllrs had not been careful enough when deciding whether or not the interest is prejudicial and therefore withdrawing from the meeting.

 

89/10                            Matters arising from the minutes cont….

 

Item 78/10 no 8

 

The PCC had written to the CCS due to regularly not receiving the paperwork that accompanies amended planning applications,

 

Craig-y-Don is boarded up and Councillors are not aware of the exact situation in this instance, is there anyone living there? 

 

A Member of the public had information regarding this so was invited to speak at this point of the meeting.

 

The owners are living in the property. However when they go away they place boards up around the windows and doors to prevent vandalism and also to retain heat.  When they return they take the boards down.

 

Decided:  Another letter to CCS regarding status of their planning application                                                      SC

 

90/10                            Community Councils.

 

Notification of CCS Forum Meeting.                                                                                                       Noted

 

91/10                            Correspondence.

 

1                      CCS   -Notification of Waymark posts on land owned by the PCC around Horton Green.

There were no objections to the plans.

 

2              CCS – Notification of Public Path Diversion PR7,PR8, PE3, PE4 and PE8 communities of Penrice and Port Eynon – Public Path Creation Order PE31 in the community of Port Eynon. 

All previously advised and discussed.                                                                                        Noted

 

3              Horton Village Hall – Financial request for the children’s Christmas party.  Deferred to later in the meeting for proposal under Finance.

 

4                      WGLA – Community Resilience.                                                                                                 Noted

 

5                      Gower Broadband  - Update that other community councils have been advised of the project.

The Chair gave an overview of the situation.

Cllr A Glass is involved in the project so summarised that all feedback is promising at the moment.

 

92/10                            Financial.

                                                                                    Chq no                                     amt

1                      Clerk salary and expenses       Information protected under the Data Protection Act                                

Proposed to pay Cllr J Bowen, seconded Cllr M Barnett, carried unanimously.

 

2                      Gower Website annual maintenance        442                                           50.00

Proposed to pay Cllr A Glass, seconded Cllr J Bowen, carried unanimously.

 

3                      Children’s Christmas parties                   443 & 444                                 75.00 to each Village Hall (2)

Proposed to pay Cllr M Williams, seconded Cllr A Glass, carried unanimously.

 

4              The Annual Return Section 1 was re-approved and Section 2 was approved.  The Chair re-signed section 1

and signed section 2.

Each element of section 2 was read and approved by the Council. 

 

5              Horton notice board has been identified previously to be in such a state of disrepair that would now have to be

replaced.  Decided to order a new one in principle from the firm that provided the notice board in Oxwich

providing the amount is within £1100.                                                                                                  SC

 

Cash @ bank 30th Oct 2010  £8073.90.

 

93/10                            Planning.

 

A                      Application no 2010/1375   Emmanuel House, Horton

                        Demolition of existing dwelling and erection of four new dwellings.

 

B                      Application no 2010/1605, Emmanuel House, Horton

                        Application for conservation area consent for demolition in a conservation area.

 

Cllr M Barnett declared an interest and withdrew from the meeting due to having sent a letter of objection to this application.

 

Points raised:

1              Too many houses planned in the area available.

2              Too intense a development

3              There are no elevations or measurements of heights so is difficult to judge the full impact on the surrounding houses.

4              Three houses would be better than four.

 

Decided:  To object due to being too intense a development and not enough information on the elevations or height measurements etc.

 

Letters of objection had been sent to the Council which raised the following points:

1.1          Concerns were raised over the access road during the construction phase due to the road upkeep being the responsibility of a few other properties nearby, who used this road for access to their properties.  If the road was damaged by the lorries, who would ensure it was put back to the same condition?

1.2          The width of the road at the junction opposite the property was too narrow.

1.3          There had been insufficient information on the building levels and also the existing log cabin was not on the layout.

 

Also J Ellis added that the two applications should be considered and that the demolition should not be passed until an acceptable solution or acceptable application has been decided.  Council decided to add this to the objection.     SC

 

C                      Application no 2010/1540  Caravan Rally 20th July -10th Aug 2011 , Bank Farm, Horton

 

Cllr B Richards declared an interest in this item due to being the owner and withdrew from the meeting.

Cllr A Lewis declared an interest in this item due to being a close friend of Cllr B Richards and also withdrew from the meeting.

 

Council decided to make the usual comment regarding Caravan rallies.                                                                SC

 

D                      Application no 2008/0061  Greenways Leisure Park, Oxwich

                        Retention of caravan decking and access ramps and the siting, resiting and removal of static caravans and

associated works (amendment to planning application no 2002/0578)

 

The CCS had not sent any information to show what this amendment was.  The Clerk had obtained some information via e mail, but this still did not show what was intended, therefore the Council could not make any observations due to insufficient information.  Clerk to write to CCS to request information.                                                                       SC

 

E                      Preliminary Notification from the RNLI of a proposed application to extend the Boat House at Horton that has

yet to be submitted to the CCS.

 

Cllr G Roberts declared an interest in this item due to being a member of the lifeboat crew and only gave factual information to the Council on this matter.  No decision was required as this was just preliminary notification of a proposal to the Council and also the community.

 

Dr Hilliard, who was present at the meeting and is the nearest neighbour to the Boat House had no objection to the extension, providing there will be a flat roof.

 

Part of the extension encroaches onto PCC land, so this will have to be considered and decided in the future.

 

The Chair proposed to move the -  The Boundaries of the Land Adjacent to Shore Cottage to the end of the meeting.  Seconded Cllr J Bowen, carried unanimously.

 

 

94/10                            Stiles ( Cllr JB)

 

Cllr J Bowen reported:

Mr. Steve Parry of the CCS had contacted Cllr Bowen regarding a stile located at the bottom of Green Lane by the Pumping Station and had advised that its condition was dangerous.

 

Following a brief discussion and after reviewing photographs of the stile in question, Council resolved that the Clerk to send a letter to Chris Dale to express the difficulties being experienced by locals and visitors in using the current arrangement.  Stiles are currently being improved and installed in other locations in the area.              SC

 

 

95/10                            The Investigation by the Ombudsman into a Code of Conduct complaint against

Cllr J  Bowen.

 

Cllr J Bowen declared an interest and withdrew from the meeting.

 

The Chair gave a verbal overview of the situation.  A letter had been received on the day of this meeting from Mrs K Beynon and some, but not all Cllrs had also received a copy of this letter through the post.  The Chair summarised the contents and advised that Mrs K Beynon ended the letter requesting closure on the situation.

 

Cllrs felt that the report from the Ombudsman was excessive and commented on what this had all cost.

 

Cllrs were advised in brief that the Ombudsman’s conclusions were:

 

That Cllr Bowen had not breached paragraph 6(1)(d) of the Code of Conduct with her comment made to Mrs K Beynon after the meeting 28th July 2009, but should be mindful of this in the future.

 

That Cllr Bowen had declared a personal interest at the meeting of the 28th July 2009 and remained in the meeting but did not speak or vote.  Cllr Bowen should have considered whether her interest was also prejudicial and if so withdrawn from the meeting.   Therefore this secondary matter is now referred to the CCS Standards Committee for consideration.

 

Cllrs were advised that the report was available to be viewed from the Clerk.

 

 

96/10                            Matters Outstanding.

 

A Lord Mayor’s Charity event had been held at Bank Farm 19th October and had been very well supported.  Thank you to Mike Roberts and Rona Morgan and all who were involved in making this evening a success.

 

 

97/10                            Public Questions relating to the agenda.

 

QN :  What is the finish to be used on the footpath proposed across Horton Burrows?

 

Call M Barnett answered : The footpath was being amended on the map to reflect the footpath that was being used on the ground.  Duck board was planned, subject to the limitations of the finances of the CCS in the future.  A path is planned beside the road that would be suitable for prams to pass.

 

Decided:  Letter to Matthew Painton.                                                                                                      SC

 

 

98/10                            Date and venue of next meeting.

 

15th December 2010  at Horton Village Hall

 

 

99/10                            The Boundaries of the land adjacent to Shore Cottage –  update

 

A letter had been sent by the Surveyor and was read to the meeting.  The letter had been shown to Mr. Mumby who was present at the meeting, prior to the commencement of the meeting,  however this had not allowed for the full consideration time due to only having been received on the day of the meeting.

 

J Ellis had met with the surveyor and reported that the meeting had been very helpful. J Ellis explained that the Land Registry map that had been used to show the land owned by Mr. and Mrs. Mumby had been scaled up and overlaid onto the accurate map that had been drawn up by the Surveyor.  However the map that the Land Registry had used, showing the registered title, was not accurate and did not correctly reflect or match what was actually on the ground and therefore a portion of it could not be extracted and used for the purpose of identifying the correct boundaries.

 

J Ellis advised that she was still interested in buying the land that was in the registered title to include the driveway, flower bed and footpath.

 

The Council would therefore be selling the registered title to J Ellis.

 

J Mumby was happy to accept that the land he owned was whatever was registered at the Land Registry.

 

J Ellis offered to write in and make an offer to the Council for the purchase of the land.

 

This solution was accepted by the Council and it was resolved to agenda next meeting.                           SC

 

The Surveyor had reminded the Council of the outstanding fees £705.00   chq no 445

 

Proposed to pay Cllr J Bowen, seconded Cllr A Glass, carried unanimously.

 

 

 

 

 

Date_________________________Chairman___________________________